A Tale for the Time Being Ruth Ozeki’s novel A Tale for the Time Being was reviewed by Elizabeth Gilbert as “a beautifully interwoven novel about magic and loss and the incomprehensible threads that connect our lives.” Characters are developed and exposed to the reader as well as the introduction on the concept of time. In Ozeki’s novel readers follow protagonist Nao Yasutani a fifteen year old Japanese American girl who struggles with bullying and living in the “time being” in her new home in Tokyo. Ruth, the second narrator in this novel receives Nao’s journal washed up on the beach off the coast of her home in British Columbia after the tsunami in Japan. Ozeki tells the story of Nao’s life by using controversial themes like suicide and living in the time being by using graphic images to best illustrate the life of this troubled teenager. When Ruth begins to read Nao’s journal it becomes …show more content…
There is a repetition of a crow approaching Ruth and her husband in Canada, the crow may be associated with spiritual life and mysteries. The idea that Ruth is constantly running into it may foreshadow that the crow is trying to help Ruth somehow develop a connection on a spiritual basis with the book. Another item that may be a form of foreshadowing might be the mistake web search that allowed Ruth the opportunity to listen to “Harry’s” suicide attempt story. This article Ruth happens upon while searching for clues about Nao and her surroundings. The second literacy device used in the novel is footnotes, the footnotes allow readers to delve into the minds of both Nao and Ruth by gaining a better understanding of their languages and thoughts. In conclusion, Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being Part I grabs the reader’s attention by telling and retelling a story of an adolescent girl who holds on to her life for the time